A female juvenile visitor from Oakland, Calif., was killed Wednesday afternoon in a two-car, head-on collision on Kaumuali‘i Highway between Puhi and Maluhia Road (Tree Tunnel), according to County Public Information Officer Mary Daubert. Daubert said the juvenile was a
A female juvenile visitor from Oakland, Calif., was killed Wednesday afternoon in a two-car, head-on collision on Kaumuali‘i Highway between Puhi and Maluhia Road (Tree Tunnel), according to County Public Information Officer Mary Daubert.
Daubert said the juvenile was a passenger in a Chevrolet sedan traveling eastbound. There were three other persons in the car, a male, and two other females.
Daubert said the other vehicle involved was a westbound Nissan pickup driven by a woman from Koloa.
The three people in the sedan, all Californians, and the local woman, were all transported to Wilcox Memorial Hospital. Daubert said the Koloa woman and two of the California visitors sustained minor injuries.
According to emergency dispatches from American Medical Response personnel, another California visitor, a 10-year-old girl, suffered serious injuries.
The condition of the three surviving California visitors could not be established by presstime.
Traffic was backed up for hours in both directions despite Kaua‘i Police Department officers’ efforts to find alternative routes on private property on former cane-haul roads around the accident scene.
Several motorists stuck on either side of the accident site phoned in their frustrations to The Garden Island staff members.
Daubert said the road reopened at 5:30 p.m. At that time, additional vehicles in both directions poured onto the highway in pauhana traffic, causing further congestion.
Late last night, the cause of the accident was still under investigation.
